A warm front moves through the area today and scattered storms will result. The front will usher in highs at least 20 degrees warmer than yesterday. My forecast high yesterday morning was 63. We made it to to 55. April Fool! Clouds got trapped under an inversion that was slow to break up from the southwest. That led to some big temperature differences. The high was 72 in Evansville, but only 48 in Muncie.
The Indy high was actually a few degrees below normal. That hasn’t happened in a long time. But because of relatively mild morning conditions…the overall average temp for the day was still a touch above average, keeping the streak alive that started March 10th.
PP NETWORK HIGHS TODAY:
65 South Bend
73 Muncie
75 Anderson
77 Lafayette
77 Indy
84 Evansville
Shower and storm chances will be back Monday night into Tuesday.
Speaking of storms, maybe you heard or read that your recent odds of winning that giant lottery jackpot were less than your odds of getting hit by lightning, right?
A 48 year old dude from Wichita Kansas named Bill Isles went out last Thursday to buy three tickets to win Mega Millions. Later that evening, while standing in his back yard….yep, he got thrown to the ground by lightning. He says he’s ok. By the way, Bill is also a volunteer storm spotter for the National Weather Service. He definitely spotted THAT one.
Today is Palm Sunday, the annual reminder of a grim day in Indiana weather history, in places like Marion, Kokomo, and Goshen. A famous “double tornado” in Elkhart Indiana killed 36 people during the “Palm Sunday Tornado” outbreak.An 800-yard-wide tornado killed 25 people near Kokomo that day, while the communities of Marion and Alto were severely impacted.
Seven of the ten tornadoes that day were killers, and took 137 lives between 4:45 and 6:30pm. Over 1,700 were inured in the state.
At that time, the weather radars were few and far between. The 1950s-vintage radars (converted from aviation use) were only able to identify tornadoes if they picked up the tell-tale “hook echo” characteristic, but the radars weren’t to blame. The danger in the storm system was identified early on and the Bureau disseminated warning information quickly. However, most of the public never received the warnings and those that did could not tell the difference between a forecast and an alert.
To reduce public confusion, the Weather Service launched its current Tornado Watch (conditions are prime for tornado development) and Tornado Warning (a tornado is on the ground or eminent) program. The agency began a massive public education effort to help prevent a repeat of the terrible toll of that Sunday so many years ago. Peace to you, today:)
Indiana’s Unique Weatherman is sponsored in part by Unique Home Solutions, and Dr. Nancy Halsema at Carmel West Dentistry. My weather on the Star@Sunrise is sponsored by Kroger. Subscribe to Paul Poteet Dot Com by clicking here.
INDY ALMANAC:
Typical high temp today is 58, and the average low is 38. Record high is 82, from just two years ago. The record low is 20. Sunrise time is 7:29 and sunset is 8:10.
DETAILED INDIANAPOLIS FORECAST:
Today: Partly sunny, with scattered showers and storms. High 77.
Tonight: Slight chance of an early evening shower or storm. Otherwise, partly cloudy. Low 54.
Monday: Mostly sunny. High 77.
Monday Night: Scattered shower or storms possible. Otherwise, partly cloudy. Low 58.
Tuesday: Partly sunny. Storm chances. High 76.
Tuesday Night: Slight storm chance. Low 49.
Wednesday: Mostly sunny. High 63.
Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy. Low 45.
Thursday: Mostly to partly sunny, with a slight shower or storm chance. High 60.
Thursday Night: Mostly clear. Low 40.
Friday: Sunny. High 62.
Friday Night: Mostly clear. Low 42.
Saturday: Sunny. High 66.
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